your guys advise on shotguns was good and i'm gonna buy one thsi weekend. What type of ammunition should I buy for it? I see a lot of choices, can someone explain them?
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birdshot is birds and clay targets for clays 6-9 shot works
buck shot is for deer and bad guys
slugs are for deer and bear
hope that helps
youll wanna buy some bird shot to start with and learn the gun with, its way cheaper than buck shot."You are the Vice Regent of the Jews" -QRPRAT77
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To familiarize yourself with whatever shotgun you get, buy some inexpensive birdshot, #6 seems to be the size most available everywhere. lead shot wil be cheaper than steel, the steel is required for certain hunting applications.
I keep my defense weapon loaded with OO buck. Around the farm my companion is a 20 ga SXS double barrel with two triggers for instant barrel selection. One pipe holds #6 shot, the other #3 buck. #6 is for rattlers or possums in the henhouse, the buck for bigger predators.
I have never been very accurate with slugs from a smoothbore, but many, many other people are good enough to bag deer with them."There is nothing so exhilarating as to be shot at without result." Winston Churchill
Member: Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America, American Legion, AMVETS, Society of the Fifth Infantry Division
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Bird shot for small game.
Buckshot for big game including people.
Buckshot (any size) is pretty effective out to 30 meters. It can kill further than that, but not humanely.
If you need to shoot further than 30m, you might want to consider a rifle, but slugs can score solid hits out to about 100 meters in some guns.
If you intend to use slugs, shoot a lot of them at various ranges and make sure you know where they are going.
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To get a bit more specific on the ammo, when talking about shot size, the bigger the number, the smaller the shot. Because of the limits of the size of the shell, the smaller size shot will result in a lot more pellets. For example, OO buck contains nine pellets that are .32 inches in diameter. 7 1/2 size shot probably contains forty to fifty pellets that are smaller than a b.b. The number of pellets will affect the coverage area also. Obviously, nine pellets aren't going to spread out that much, whereas forty are going to offer more coverage. There is an important distinction here, though. Those nine pellets are going to punch through a lot further than the forty. For hunting birds, you want the smaller pellets with less penetration, because you don't want to shred the bird. With bigger game, you want the deeper penetration. People have been hit with the 7 1/2 shot and shrugged it off. Nobody shrugs off OO buck. A slug is one solid shot that will fire much like a rifle, with a lot less range and accuracy. If you hit someone with a slug, they will feel like you threw a house at them, though.
Traditional wisdom is that a shotgun is the perfect home defense weapon. Especially a pump, in that the sound of the action being racked is guaranteed to kick the pucker factor off the scale for most invaders. Additionally, with a medium range sized shot, like a number 6, you can get a pretty good pattern without going through three walls and nailing your neighbor, or the kid in the next room. There is a fallacy out there that it's a lot harder to miss with a shotgun. That's bologna. Depending on the range, it's altogether too easy to miss with a shotgun, which is why you need to practice with it just like you would any weapon you intend to bet your life on. The difference is that as soon as you set the thing off, most burglars are going to be headed in the other direction.
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Start with the shortest shells you can get. Almost every shotgun made in the last hundred years will accept 2 3/4 inch shells. 3 inch shells are too long for about 75% of the guns out there. 3 1/2 inch shells only fit about 10% of the guns out there. I'm guessing at the percentages, but in general 2 3/4 inch shells will work in every shotgun, but longer shells may or may not fit.
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I'll throw my 2 cents in as well. A 2 3/4" shell does not have as much kick as a 3" or a 3 1/2", in short the longer the shell the more kick it has. I know all the tough guys will give me crap but if you are not used to a shotgun and you are going to be shooting some buck or slugs then you will want to consider getting a good pad for the butt of the stock or if your wife is going to train with it as well.
Side Note: I have not counted how many pellets are in a 3 1/2" Buck shot shell, one would think there would be more than what is in 2 3/4" shell."It's a trap!!!!" -- Admiral Ackbar
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The 3 1/2 has 18 OO PELLETS and is a shoulder full!
ELITTLE is absolutly correct on lower recoiling shells. I killed everything that walked, crawled or flew with a short 20ga long before I got my 12ga 3 1/2.
Try them all and use what is tolerable. There are some cheap 2 1/2 mexican/european shells out there that may or may not work in a pump. They will not feed in our autos, to the best of my knowledge anyway.Knowledge is Power, Practiced Knowledge is Strength, Tested Knowledge is Confidence
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I'm not sure if the shells I have are the ones that Matt is thinking of, but what I have are from Aguila. They are called Minishells. They make a slug round and a multi shot round with #7 shot and one 0 Buck, think they also make shells only loaded with #7. They shells are 1 3/8" long. They will feed out of a Winchester 1300/Defender. I can fit 12 in a standard full length magazine tube (not the 5 round length). I didn't do anything to make them run through my Winchester, they will not feed properly through an unmodified Remington 870. I have never tried to feed them through a Mossberg. They have minimal recoil but still hit pretty hard, especially the slugs. I don't know if they still make them or not however I still see them at gun shows from time to time.Intereo pro quispiam vel ago nusquam
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But since I love shotguns I thought I would add some 411 for those that also like shotguns. =)
Avenger: Hollow steel balls with a low gunpowder load. Short range and low recoil, with low penetration. Could be useful in a situation requiring low penetration, such as home defense. Semi-nonlethal.
Bird Bombs: An explosive payload, which (in theory) detonates on impact. Roughly equivalent to an m80 firecracker.
Bolo: Two heavy slugs connected by piano wire. Was once known as the garrote slug. While impossible to aim, the wire becomes a very hazardous blade at muzzle velocity.
Bouncer: Two zytel (nylon) balls. High muzzle velocity, very low penetration. Semi-nonlethal, like rubber bullets.
Chain reaction: A 6-inch length of chain. Impacts in a rather random pattern.
Comet: A regular shotgun slug with a red tracer.
Detonator: Essentially, a hollow lead slug with an explosive tip. It's made with for the purpose of filling with your own explosive or other payload, which then detonates on impact.
Door buster: Tiny lead pellets, approaching lead dust. Impacts with full force, but over a larger area, with very little penetration.
Dragon's Breath: Yes, these really do exist, and yes, you can order them for $16.98 each. White phosphorous that ignites upon being shot. Creates a 100-yard flamethrower that burns for about three seconds. Contrary to popular belief, this does not damage a smooth-bore shotgun.
Fire siren: A small weighted whistle. Incredibly loud at muzzle velocity. Wear ear protection.
Flash bomb: Like the bird bomb, above, but using a flash-powder incendiary instead of an explosive one.
Flechette: A whole bunch of needles. High penetration.
Hammer: A bean-bag round; a nylon bag filled with tiny shot. High impact, but theoretically nonlethal.
Mini Missile: A solid lead slug with a steel core. The lead slug peels away on impact, driving the core through hard targets (like armor.)
Napalm: Like the Bird Bomb, above, but filled with white phosphorous, which burns very hot upon impact.
Pit Bull: Six big lead pelletes, and one big slug. Not that exotic, really.
Shredder: A lot of sharp tacks. Short range, but high trauma to flesh.
Smoke bomb: Essentially, the Dragon's Breath Round, only using a smoke powder instead.
Stinger: 16 zytel (nylon) balls. Essentially, the rubber bullet for shotguns. Semi-nonlethal.
Super flare: A shotgun-launched flare.
Website I buy some shotgun specialty ammo from: http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/index....specialty-ammo
Sometimes they have some "Dragon's Breath" rounds and flachette rounds, but charge a good penny for them.
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Does anyone have any experience with "buck and ball" loads? It seems to be based on the buck and ball load of the smoothbore musket days. The modern loads I've seen are 1 .65 ball and 6 pieces of #1 shot per shell, or some slight variation of that. Seems like it could be worth checking out, I think definately too much for home defense though.
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I used to handload some with 3 OO and # 2s, #6s thrown in, for an all purpose type load when i was younger. It's legality on hunting was why I quit messing with it but for survival and the not having to change a load out I think it would be good. It had the ability to take out anything within short ranges.Knowledge is Power, Practiced Knowledge is Strength, Tested Knowledge is Confidence
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Originally posted by Longhunter View PostDoes anyone have any experience with "buck and ball" loads? It seems to be based on the buck and ball load of the smoothbore musket days. The modern loads I've seen are 1 .65 ball and 6 pieces of #1 shot per shell, or some slight variation of that. Seems like it could be worth checking out, I think definately too much for home defense though.
There is a company marketing similar loads specifically for home defense. I think they are intended for 410 shotshells in the Taurus Judge revolver. Seem like a very efefctive answer to threats within a 10 yard range.
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